Bluesound Vault 2

I run Roon on a Mac Mini that sends files via ethernet and USB to DACs. The files are those I’ve ripped, as well as from Qobuz and Tidal. I was given a Bluesound Vault 2i recently, but I’m not sure how it fits into my existing setups, or what it adds. I think the Ayre Codex has two inputs and can take USB from the Roon network and directly from the Vault 2i. The Ayre QX-5 Twenty digital hub has both ethernet and USB inputs. Is the Vault 2i primarily a NAS?

This product was attractive to me as I had a large number of CD's to rip and liked the idea of an integrated approach to storing my music digitally. So I went ahead and purchased a Vault 2. I later discovered that the integration is however also its weakness: if something fails, the unit becomes an expensive paperweight.

The good:
- Ripping a large CD collection works well with the Vault. Some of your more obscure discs may not be found, but that is rare.
- Storage provided is adequate for most needs.
- Sound quality when paired with an appropriate amplifier and speakers is always excellent.

The bad:
- Ripping takes time, and is not as accurate as other PC based ripping sofware 
This Vault is essentially a Bluesound node cobbled with a CD reader (only CD's BTW, and not DTS or other HiRes music discs), and 2TB of storage. Very expensive when you consider what the three separate functions would cost.
- Meta tags from ripping, album art etc. must all be carefully checked if you have a large library.
- Failures: the achilles heal of the vault is reliability of the storage. And when it fails, it fails hard: your library is no longer accessible by any other devices. Yes you can back up your Vault, but no real way to restore your music to anything other than a vault. Which leads you to:
- Poor warranty. At only one year for hardware, you are left high and dry by Bluesound to deal with the failure. Nor anyway to get your music back.

In short:
- Poor value relative to the functionality provided
- Poor warranty, and you should count on an eventual failure of your storage and plan accordingly

Don't purchase a Vault from Bluesound. Your are far better off with a Node and using professional quality storage, and ripping your CD's with a computer.

As the previous post noted - hard drive failures can be devastating!

I have the Node 2 which streams digital content from my NAS drive.

The NAS drive has RAID mirroring, so if one hard disk in the NAS fails I simply replace the defective hard disk and the RAID software copies all of the mirrored info to the new drive.

This did happen to me when I was using "Standard Grade" hard disks (like those in most computers), so I know it works very well. I now have "Server Grade" Hard disks which are much more reliable - it’s been running for about 5 years no problems - yet :-)

I do backup my music in the event of a catastrophic failure of both NAS hard disks, and it's in the same format, so I simply copy the files back to the repaired NAS drive.

I rip CD’s using DBPoweramp which let’s you know of the rip was "complete" by comparing a generated code to a database that they maintain from other peoples rips

I have ripped directly to the NAS music folder and also copied directly. Re-indexing the library in the Node 2 interface allows access to the new tracks.

I did originally look at the Vault 2, but decided drive failures may be an issue, so I continued using my NAS that had worked well with my previous DAC.

@peporter - re: recording vinyl...

I have recorded tracks from vinyl using a very simple/cheap A-D converter
https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=behringer+uca222&hvadid=13765698437&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt...

It records directly to my MAC via USB cable

I tend to simply record a complete side, as opposed to individual tracks. But the UAC222  converter comes with software that will allow you to edit the digital stream (e.g. into tracks). I think it even has a feature to reduce the crackles and pops

Alas, adding album artwork or metadata to go with the track is not  easily done, so I have not tried ...
- I simply store content by artist and album (i.e. in folders) and the Node 2 ’re-index" feature allows the interface to show this info at time of playing.

DO NOT be fooled by it’s frugal looks/price - it is exceptional value and quality.

Regards - Steve

I just purchased a Node 2i and it’s very nice.It is running it into a Yggdrasil A2/5 via SPDIF Wywires and I changed the PC to a Wireworld Electra Mini. I’m bowled over how this thing sounds. The wires are worth more than the 2i.
Qobuz sounds very close depending on material to my PS Audio DS Transport.
I’m having a blast with it. I like getting rid of the computer and the USB cable BS. Use good wires!
The internal DAC is pretty good too. I upgraded my network with an Eero 3 piece router, flawless.

I believe you can back up the Vault to a secondary storage drive via USB to have a fall back should the unit fail.

Has anyone compared this unit to the Innuos ZENMini Mk3?
http://innuos.com/en/catalog/go/zenmini-mk3-1tb-hdd